《DragonBorn》 Chapter 1 - A Brief Primer For several centuries the entire continent of Ashor lived in peace and unity with all themajorraces of the land. This wasn''t always the case. At the time of the Great War, all the races had their respective territories, with defined borders. To cross them into a neighboring territory could get you killed, by your own kind, or the respective territories border guards. There was no trade, no freedom of speech, no exchange of knowledge. War was commonplace and an expected part of life on Ashor. The Great War lasted 26 years and millions of lives were lostbecausetheleadersof the time wanted to try and expand their territory or capture more resources. You would have thought, with all the needless bloodshed, that the Great War would have ended on its own. The truth is far from it. One day during a major battle between the humans, dwarves, and elves, the suns turned black and the skies turned a blood red haze. Warriors from all sides stopped mid engagement and stared at the stars. As if this was a sign from their respective divine entities that it was time to end this nonsense once and for all. After several minutes, the truth finally revealed itself. The ground started to shake and the water in the streams stopped. All of a sudden huge walls of ice, fire, earth, and water so tallno ladder could reachsurrounded what amassed to be 120,000 troops strong from all sides. Reports of the time say it was as if the gods created mountains of the elements. Panic soon ensued and people were trying to escape, that was until the dragons came. Huge beasts of legend flew in and sat atop of their walls and watched their potential prey. People stood, and watched, knowing that their fear and panic would do no good now, and waited for the end to come. But it never did. Unbeknownst to them, hundreds of miles away in the major races respective capitols, a single elder dragon landed in the town squares. And unlike the fear and panic instilled in the troops, these dragons emitted a presence of calming, and peacefulness. They each declared in the lands native tongues that their only wish was to speak to the ruler of that land. Neither the humans, dwarves, elves, giants, gnomes, Halflings, kobolds, ogres or orcs leaders agreed to such a meeting, and hid. The dragons, with no other choice, used their great magic and drew forth each and every leader in front of them, and offered a peaceful resolution. "Stand down your troops, return to your respective territories, and we will broker a peace between all the people of this land." Unsurprisingly, they all declined the offer. For that, with a simple swat, breath, or magical desire, each leader was slain in a matter of moments. The people cheered. For they knew that a time of peace was upon them. In the following days, the elder dragons used their magic and scoured the lands for the most desirable leaders and offered them the position. Needless to say, none of them refused. Within a week, all the troops were brought home to their families. The dragons that had surrounded the troops flew the skies, keeping the peace and making sure no one tried to cause an uprising. Back in the capitols, the elder dragons worked with the appointed leaders and inside of six months a unified peace and treaties were established throughout the land. There were many questions as to why the dragons did what they did. When the elder dragons were asked by the people¡¯s representatives why them and why were they helping them. They told a tale of the only other continent on the planet, which had been ravaged by a war much like these people were going through. The entire continent was decimated andwhat was a population of billions turned into a few hundred thousand over the course of several decades. They could not let this happen to these great races. So the entirety of their kind flew here, agreeing to not let happen here what plagued them there. After this, started several centuries of peace and prosperity amongst everyone.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The chosen nobles fathered children and their children bore more, and so on and so forth. Leadership of greatness passed on from generation to generation. Each elder dragon picking the oldest child and assigning them rights to the crown and the younger brothers and sisters in positions of nobility. The oldest of the children at birth were imbued with the essence of a dragon elder, which allowed them when they reached the age of 8 to take on a young dragon familiar, one to grow up with, and learn from. Young from a dragon¡¯s standards are around 100 human years of age. You see, dragons pass their intelligence and experience on to their children. So there¡¯s much to learn. This is where our story truly begins. You see, young Draco was given a supreme gift at the age of 8 when his coming of age ceremony took place. There are over 100 different colors and types of dragons in existence today. His, the rarest of all as it has never been seen, not even several hundred years ago at the dragon¡¯s wall that surrounded the troops. His, was a black dragon. As with all creatures there¡¯s good, neutral, and evil. Thus far, all the dragons the people of Ashor have encountered have been good and neutral alignment. This black dragon however, was an evil alignment, totally unbeknownst to its mother and father. This is where Draco took a turn for the worst. Day by day the dragon which Draco so eloquently named "Tyre", began to corrupt young Draco. Teaching him about how easily people could be manipulated and how dragons have ruined the races of this world. That dragons were the reason the other continent of people destroyed themselves and that there trying to accomplish that here. Young Draco insisted this wasn''t possible. "How has there been seven hundred years of peace if they are trying to destroy us?" Tyre responded in turn to explain that dragons live a long time, and they were simply growing there numbers. Three years later at the age of 11, Draco¡¯s father, the current king became ill, and absolutely no magic in the land could heal him. Not even dragon magic. Tyre convinced young Draco that the dragons infected his father and this was part of their plot. They wouldn¡¯t heal him, even though they pretended to try. Several weeks later Draco¡¯s father died and a ceremony was held in his honor. The day after at age 11, Draco was crowned heir to the king of all the human race on Ashor. Meaning he could rule, but with advisors to council him on the proper and righteous thing to do until he was 18, and took a wife. Draco swore on that day to Tyre that he would see the end of the dragons and peace in Ashor and he would make the world bow to him and his absolute power. A few years later Draco¡¯s mother fell ill, just like his father, she ended just the same, even with the supposed help of the dragons. By his 18th birthday, Draco¡¯s mastery of the dark arts was unmatched. And so began his conquest of the world, first, by ensuring every single living dragon other than Tyre and any of the other black dragons they find, are extinguished. He accomplished this by Tyre¡¯s dragon seek ability. You see, dragons know where other dragons are. He used this, coupled with his knowledge of when dragons need to sleep and for how long. Dragons barely need rest or too sleep. But when they do sleep, they sleep for decades. Tyre was sent on long missions to find, hunt down, and kill all the dragons sleeping in solitude. Tyre killed hundreds. And it went on unnoticed for many years. You see, if you know your brother dragon is going through his sleep cycle. You know where they are and not to disturb them. So you¡¯re not bothering wasting time trying to find them. By the time Young Draco was 25, Tyre had managed to kill all but 15 dragons in existence. From once what was a population of over 200. The elder dragons finally caught on but it was too late. Now the remaining dragons are on the run from there unknown enemy trying to find a sliver of hope for these people before all is lost. Chapter 2 - A Meeting Of The Elders, And Only One Remained Dragons don''t typically meet in large numbers, there¡¯s too much power focusing in one area. It''s not safe for the nearby races or for the flow of magic in the area. But given the grievous circumstances over the last several years, the elders called an emergency meeting. The only safe place they felt, were over the open waters above the ocean. Several hundred miles from land. The younger dragons expected to arrive and see hundreds of their kind in attendance, but the elders knew better. The 15 that were here, were all that remained. Including the 9 elders. Once everyone had arrived, the oldest and wisest of the dragon kind spoke first, Ashvor, the only remaining white dragon. "Allow me to forgo the niceties and get straight to the point. The 15 dragons that you see before you are the only remaining ones of our kind. An evil force over the last several years have taken and slain our brothers and sisters while they slept. The first we believe to have fallen was our green brother, Elwood. He as you all are aware was our master seeker. The one who kept a watchful eye over all of our dragon kind and let us know when our fellows were in trouble. And to answer what I¡¯m sure most of you will have as your first questions as to how this happened, well that is your answer. We always expected Elwood to be there, and to be watching over us. We never expected him to fall to the enemy. We have limited options at our disposal, we are unaware of who the enemy is or where they come from, and the entire continent will be on the verge of collapse if we cease to exist." There was an unnatural silence amongst all the dragons, time seemed to almost stand still. Ashvor continued, ¡°After careful deliberation with the other elders, we have decided to leave this place we have called home for these many centuries." An outcry erupted from the remaining six who this information was all new news to them. "The people will surely fall to this new evil if we are not here to protect and guide them," yelled Grim, a young but wise blue dragon. Ashvor went on to explain their plan, "Several hundred years ago when our old world was on the verge of collapse before we came here, we had considered creating a Dragon Born. Someone who would hold all out knowledge and power and could rise the people up and slay or convince the powers that be to make change. We had then decided against it at that time because our numbers were strong and we thought we would be able to do more good than putting all our eggs on an unborn child. That was then, and this is now. We do not have the numbers to sustain or protect these people from what is about to happen to them. We have located an unborn child with parents who we''ve not seen the kindness of in generations and we''ve chosen them to father the Dragon Born. Grim, we have chosen you since you contain the majority of the genetic memory of all of our ancestors since you are the youngest of our newborns. Go to Ashwood, it¡¯s the closet town to the sea with a port on the edge of the human and elven lands, find Laura and Sven, tell them what needs to happen and what could happen if they don''t allow us to make their child Dragon Born. Get them to understand he is our last hope for this world and all of dragon kind. Bless the child as a Dragon Born and explain that as he levels, he will unlock new and hidden powers of our kind. Create a book of knowledge to give to the parents on how to raise him, what to teach him, and our history. The rest of us will return to the old world to wait until he is of age and has time to find his place in the world, then we will make contact again. Grim, once you¡¯ve completed your task, return to us and we will wait in the old mountain at the center of the continent, and we will sleep and save our magic and ...."Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Before Ashvor had time to finish the sky grew black and the air turned ice cold. Ashvor recognized the spell that was coming on to them because he helped create it so many generations ago, but by the time he realized, it was too late. [GRAVITY SLAM] At once every single dragon began plummeting to the ground, surrounded by what felt like an increase of gravity, 100 times past its norm. The dragons were all taken off guard and fell over a thousand feet. The ones who fell first, unable to maintain their flight, never had a clue as to how they were going to die. Ashvor saw what was going to be his fate as well as the others. Giant spikes of ice grew and formed and at alarming speed over the ocean¡¯s surface. Dragon after dragon was impaled and soon absorbed by the ice. He knew not where his enemies came from but watch as the dragon essence flew from the dead corpses to the skies and inside of a cloud. You see, when a dragon is slain, its power has a chance of being consumed if the right spell is cast at the right time. In a moment, as if a gift from the gods, the cloud was parted and Ashvor saw their new enemy and recognized him immediately as Tyre. On his back was a masked man with a cloaking helmet. It''s only rider could be the one man who was chosen for him by Ashvor, Draco. Ashvor would be the last to die, as he was the highest flying dragon in the meeting and he knew he couldn¡¯t save himself. Because in his old, failing age, he didn¡¯t have the strength or the vast amount of knowledge that Grim had, because of the genetic memory, to give to the Dragon Born. In his final seconds he cast two spells. [GUST OF WIND] In but a moment, a huge gust of wind righted Ashvor and took him from falling off his back, to falling face first. [VOLCANIC FIREBALL] Ashvor¡¯s final two acts were to blast a volcanic fireball towards the ice underneath Grim so that he could hopefully survive the fall through the remaining ice and into the ocean underneath. And then to use his tail to point to Tyre. Grim saw what Ashvor was pointing at and was instantly outraged. This was soon curtailed by his fall through several feet of ice. Grim began swimming to the shore where Ashwood was located through all the pain and the broken bones. The worst of the pain however came from his wings, which were both punctured from the remaining ice spikes. He knew he would never fly again. He knew his only hope of making it there before Tyre was Tyre¡¯s greed. The greed of stealing all of his brothers and sisters essence. [ONE WITH WATER] Grim cast his only known tier 10 water spell. Instantly he quadrupled his swimming speed, outmatching any mammal in the ocean. Tyre and the King looked on as Grim swam away. Tyre told his rider to not fret, the green discoloration he was seeing on the ocean¡¯s surface was dragons blood. And they could track him to where he was going. That there only goal now was to take what was rightfully theirs. The last of the dragon essence. Chapter 3 - Sacrifice Grim swam for hours until night began to fall on the world. He finally reached a beach, some 300 miles from Ashwood. He crawled up onto the beach until the water could touch him no longer. And laid there. Crawled another few hundred feet away from Ashwood and crashed to the ground, laying there, bleeding all over the sand. Several minutes later he made what would appear to be his last ditch effort to reach his destination, a small barbarian encampment, and crawled twice the length of his body towards it and crashed again in to the sand. Waiting for what felt like eternity, he cast one of his final spells. [TELEPORT] In the blink of an eye Grim disappeared from the blood covered beach and appeared in Ashwood, right in the town center. Town guards surrounded Grim and tried to tend to his wounds, summoning the local healer. "That''s unnecessary, summon all of the town''s folk, wake them if necessary, and even the children." "HURRY!" Within fifteen minutes, Grim¡¯s request was fulfilled and everyone, even the children had been summoned. Grim ordered all of the people to touch him so he could share with them through telepathy, the information they needed to know. The human king and his dragon have murdered all of the dragons of this world. Seeking a vengeance on us, and to wage war against all the peoples and races of this continent. Total conquest and absolute power is his driving force now. Several hundred years of peace has unfortunately weakened all of the peoples of this continent. There are no armies per say so to speak of, so any armies he can quickly raise will decimate the land. The only remaining dragon, Tyre, is under his complete control. Or should I say the king is under Tyre''s control. But either way, this is this world¡¯s last hope. And you, are our dragon kinds last saving hope. I''m going to give all of the knowledge of my people, all our spells, to an unborn child. He will be called a Dragon Born. I am dying, after I preform the ritual, my dying breath will be to save this town from attack and keep it safe until the Dragon Born comes of age and can defend this beautiful place and hopefully save us all. It''s complicated, but no one on the outside will be able to see inside. To them, if they walk through this area, it will look like a field. In a perfect circle surrounding this area for 20 miles, from the outside looking in, they will see rolling hills, and trees. You will be out of phase with the rest of the world. Only those touching me can see the town from hence forth. If you leave the barrier, you and whoever you touch, will be the only ones who can re-enter. Until the child becomes of age will this last. I love all of you and have worked with my brothers and sisters to protect you for all these years. Now. Sven, Laura, Come to my head. Everyone else, you may stop touching me and leave if you wish. No one should have to witness a dying dragon¡¯s last breath. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The townsfolk started weeping for Grim, and his great sacrifice. Sven and Laura approached Grim¡¯s head, and touched him. "You can''t leave us!" Cried Laura while Sven held her. Grim said appearing to weep himself, "I must, if you are all to survive and protect your son." Sven stammered, " were...were having a son?" "He will be powerful and suffer much loss and see much destruction in his time, but he will be the only one who can stop the king and Tyre and bring my people back. He will be the saving grace of the world if the divines will have it. The townsfolk has the job to keep the three of you safe. Your jobs however will be the most difficult, in that you have to raise the child and teach him what¡¯s in this book." Grim made a book appear from nowhere in front of Sven and Laura. Grim asked, "Has either of you, or any of the townsfolk taken the trial and began to level" "Only our healer Marissa, the wood elf." said Sven. "That will have to do. Marissa, keep these people healthy at all costs, the boy will be weak until he comes of age." said Grim. "Laura, when I do this, the divines will gift you as if you were to have taken a tier 1 trial. And you will be rewarded as such." "I understand, what I must do?" asked Laura. "It is with my dying breath I give my life to the Dragon Born and to protect these people", just then, in an instant, Grim turned into a bright green light, and entered Laura¡¯s stomach, where the baby lie. Laura dropped to the ground. Within moments, Laura¡¯s stomach pulsed a bright green light that exploded from her belly, leaving her and the baby uninjured. The explosion did just as Grim explained, and placed a 20 mile radius from the village out of phase. Briefly, the stars were dark and could not be seen, shortly thereafter, their glimmer resumed. Three hundred miles away, Draco and Tyre tracked down Grim¡¯s blood trail. They followed it to where each time he dropped, and bled, and then vanished. Tyre said "My lord, I sense a large magical disturbance right here, I feel Grim died at this spot, my apologies you won''t be able to capture his essence for yourself like I promised, but the one promise I did keep, was to help you eradicate all the dragons. It is done." Draco walked from his saddle, down Tyre¡¯s neck to right behind his head where his ears were and sat down, straddling his neck. "You¡¯re sure all of them are dead?" asked Draco. "Yes my lord." Draco smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s ok Tyre, as long as you were able to capture all their essence and take their power for yourself I do not care." Tyre smiled and said, ¡°I have captured it all my lord and I am powerf....." In that instance, Draco buried a black dagger into Tyre''s brain. Tyre slumped to the ground and Draco stood atop of him. [ESSENCE LEECH] "Then give to me what is rightfully mine you bastard!" For several minutes Draco stood there as Tyre spilled multiple colors of essence, one for each of the over 200 dragons he¡¯s slain. Over time, Draco¡¯s body transformed into a humanoid shaped looking dragon. Looking like an everyday human, only scaled like a dragon, in all black. "This world is mine for the taking!" he screamed. He heard an explosion behind him, and looked to see a giant green dome emanating in the distance, and then....it vanished. Chapter 4 - A Deadly Decision For almost 2 full days Laura slept, in a complete trance. Sven, by her side the entire time. After Sven tended to her and gave her food and water, he had several questions for his wife. "What was the trial like? Was it everything you had thought it would be?" "I recieved no trial", exclaimed Laura and she started crying. "That''s impossible, that''s not what he said would happen, now what do we do"? "I don''t know husband, we will figure it out, as we always do". Laura and Sven devised a plan after both read the dragons book and tried to comprehend everything. It was difficult, especially reading through the spell notes without having a complete grasp on the draconic language that was given to them. They discussed with the townsfolk that everything was to proceed as normal once the child was born. They would take and leave the protective field to trade, and spread rumors about a town which dissapeared without a trace when the dragons did. Once the child reached 15, they would tell him who he was and what he was born to do. Several months later the child was born and for two years the plan worked as devised. Several times a month, people would leave the field for a few days and leave to trade, spread rumors and gain intelligence about the various kingdoms and what was going on in the realm. The most recent trading excursion proved quite fruitful. Archie the Ranger found intelligence that a small band of 3 or 4 orcs were raiding the small villages close to them. He hurried back to the town, as this was quite the opputunity to gain some gold, some supplies, and much needed weapons and armor. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it He never made it back to town, the very orcs which he was going to report on captured and tortured him. He revealed the towns secrets in the hopes to sparing his life. But his life was not spared. The orcs removed his head and continued onto where the town was located. His head, giving them access to the field. The orcs smiled, waited until nightfall, and began burning and murdering all within the town. The townspeople, untrained, were unmatched, even against a couple orcs. One by one men, women and children began to fall, most of which asleep in there homes. Marissa the healer was the first to notice the orcs, and ran to Svens and Lauras house, trying to get them and the child to safety. She approached the house and noticed the door kicked in, she ran inside to see Svens headless body laying on the ground, blood everywhere, still grasping his sword. Body twitching. She looked up to see and orc, hovering over Laura with a blade to her belly, hanging the Dragon Born upside down by his foot. Getting ready to eat him in front of her. Marissa cast [NECROTIC FLESH] The orc dropped to the ground screaming as his body turned to that of a zombie. But before he died, he lunged out with his sword, impaling Laura in the belly her insides pouring out into the already blood stained floor. The orc dropped his meal, the child, onto the floor. Marissa picked the boy up and held him, seeing his arm was broken. She placed her hand over his arm and casted [MEND BONES] Instantly after a short cry, his arm was healed. She sat him down and tended to Laura. Her wounds however were too severe. "Laura, I can do nothing for you, my magic is not yet this strong to heal your wounds." "Don''t worry about me, take my child, raise him as your own, and show him his destiny. Take the book and teach him what you mus...." In that instant, holding Marissas hand, she died. Marissa grabbed the book, the dragon born, and fled from the village. Heading towards the elven town from which she was born. As she ran, she noticed the child grabbing something in his pocket. She saw what it was, a bear, it''s shirt stained in blood, but enough to make out what it said. "Grims Teddy" Marissa thought, she named him after the dragon that gave him life. She continued to run.